Ron Mercer

Who is your favorite NBA player whose career didn't turn out as you expected? If the even made the NBA! I have a couple. First is Ron Mercer of Kentucky. He was quietly out of the NBA by 30 yrs old and the last few years were spent as a journeyman.

The way he played in the 1996 NCAA championship as a freshmen, I thought he may have been going to the hall-of-fame!

He had some decent numbers. He avg 18 pts during a short stint in Denver. He put up nearly 20 pts in Chicago. He was a good shooter/scorer. But he didn't pass or create well.

Another was Ray Young of UCLA. He didn't even make the NBA. In 1998, he was Slam magazine's high school diary and apart of UCLA's top recruiting class featuring Matt Barnes (yes at pf) Dan Gadzurik (c) Jaron Rush (sf) and Jerome Moisio (pf). FYI, Earl Watson and Baron Davis landed on campus the year before. Young didn't do much at UCLA until the last month of his 5th year (Steve Lavin redshirted him one season). The last two weeks of the season, they moved him to point guard and he exploded, but it was too late. He had a couple of summer leagues, but that was as good as it would get.

What about you all? Who were your favorite players who underperformed?

Note: if you're interested and have time, search my posts on Christian Drejer, Connie Hawkins and Earl Manigult.

Dhamp....the greatest basketball mind in the world. Next to Hubie Brown anyway.

YEAH..I THOUGHT LUKE WOULD BE AN ALL-STAR..BUT NOT A HALL OF FAMER...I SAW LUKE RECKER PLAY AT INDIANA HIS FRESHMAN..AND THOUGHT HE WOULD BE GREAT..BUT HE GOT INJURED THEN TRANSFERED TO IOWA...GOT MORE INJURIES AND NEVER WAS THE SAME....

Yeah Luke Rucker was in a terrible accident in Colorado with his girlfriend. She was paralyzed from the waist down. He transfered to Arizona with Gardener, Woods, Areanas, Walton and Jefferson. That was a bad team and he was the Super 6 man, but it wasn't enough to play in the NBA. He was a really good player though. He said he didn't learn much from Bobby Knigh and that was why he transfered.

Dhamp....the greatest basketball mind in the world. Next to Hubie Brown anyway.

My guys were a bunch of guys named Luke. Luke Walton, Luke Ridnour and Luke Jackson. Walton is an excellent ball handler and passer, but he is so tentative on offense that it really destroys what he is capable of. He's a really good player, the confidence swagger just is not there to make him much better than what he is. I thought the other two Luke's were great together in college. They both had their deficiencies, but both seemed to be amazing offensive players both from passing and scoring. Neither one of them did anything. I really thought that Jackson was the best of the 3 guys I mentioned, but he's not even in the league. I remember thinking that Lebron finally has a shooter...which was funny because they had Kapono when he got there and either traded him or did not resign him. There are more guys, but these were 3 off the top of my head.

Luke Walton is not a bad offensive player but he just plays more a team game in limited minutes. I did think that Luke Ridnour would be better and he looked good in Seatle. Sometimes it is being in the right place at the right time. Steve Blake is a solid player who has looked better playing for Denver and Portland when in all reality he would be a back up on most teams. I am not knocking him but I am just saying. I remember Reggie Freeman from Texas. Dude was like 6'6" or so and could play the point. I thought he would make the league but he never got that opportunity. Also Cedric Henderson Looked promising but I dont know what happened with him and then all of a sudden he was out of the league. Kerry Kittles was good. He kinda was like Hamilton but I guess injuries knocked him out early. I thought Keith Van Horn would be better too. He got traded and his confidence took a hit and he was never the same. His first two year he was a beast. A lot of ballers say that God Shamgod has the best cross over and I though he would make the league but he never did. A player named Jerald Honecutt a while back, dude has size, skills and and power forward height with 3 point range and he could pass. I dont know what happened to him. There are a lot of players that over the years I though from a talent and skill set should be still in it but I guess they were lazy or not easy to work with. Sometimes it is numbers game. I though Keon Clark would still be in but I guess he left so that he could smoke weed or something. I been into the draft since the mid 90's and there are a lot of players that I just go what happened. Shammon Williams what happened to him. He was a serviceable starter and good bk up. I think some guys had attitudes that caused them not to be retain or else they went overseas for more money than the NBA would give them. Jamel Thomas was another player that looked good in Summer Leagues and in college and never got with an NBA team when I see lesser players actually in the league. I think there is so much talent that unless you are a star team will not deal with your past or attitude. I actually though that Rodney White was a pretty good shooter off the bench but he never got pick up again. We all know why Bonzi is not still in even though he could still ball.

Kenny Gregory...he was huge in the McD's AA game with something like 28 points. Showed up at Kansas and yeah he had his moments, especially with his athleticism. So many monster dunks, powerful dunks. He did average about 15 points as a senior but everyone knew he probably should have been better than that. No outside game at all for a 6-5 guy. One of the worst free throw shooters I have ever seen. He shot some of the loudest bricks from the line...literally loud clanging bricks. I guess he made a bit of an international career but like I said, most people knew he should have been so much more.

Sheltwon, I haven't heard much from you lately. I know you're 29 and I'm 28 so I remember these players you mention.

Shammgod, who played with Austin Crochere at Providence, played about two seasons with Webber and Howard in Washington. He couldn't shoot 38 % for his life.

Little known fact is that Jamal Thomas is Sebastian Telfair's older brother. I remember when big-bro led the Big-East in scoring.

Whoa! Jerald Honeycutt. Boy could he play.

I remember when Slam magazine called Keon Clark the "Next Kevin Garnett." Too bad he didn't help out the Denver Nuggets.

Igudola, Ted Dupay paved the way for the Flordia basketball program. Then players such as Donell Harvery, Mike Miller, etc. came along. But Tupay was from the area and their first big-time recruit. He recently went to JAIL FOR RAPE. That's crazy. Who would have thought.

Eric Barkley play with Artest and Bootsy Thorton. Anyway remember the St. John's game with Thorton scored 40 points on Duke. He gave it to them that day.

Thanks everyone for responding.

Dhamp....the greatest basketball mind in the world. Next to Hubie Brown anyway.

Being in Chi-CIty I would see Faraguat play all the time and ask K.G about Ronnie Fields...to this very day he still claims he is on the best players he ever played with...Penny is my all time favorite player I know injuries derailed his career but he was all NBA 1st team his 2nd year in the leauge so its not like he never panned out or anything..Kiwane Garris is my man for this category, Illini standout brief stints with Utah but he was nasty in college ask Iowa fans cuz he averaged about 25ppg every time he played them

Actually, I have been wanting to share some of my favorite players that has underachieved in their career. The best one and the one that I really thought should have been an All-Star in his career was Chris Jackson aka Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf... He was the 3rd pick in the 1990 draft that featured uhhhhh... Derrick Coleman... uhhhh... Dennis Scott and of course GP... He was a sensational player back when he was in LSU (saw the tapes back then)... He was fast and he could knock down the 3 with ease (much like Steph Curry nowadays)... He was one of Denver's potent weapon despite his 6'1 size... He was the league leader in free throw percentage in 1994-1996. Though he did had some awards by winning the Most Improved Player, he changed his belief to Islam thus changing his name to Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. He had a game in which he erupted for 51 points (against Utah, I think)... For a PG to be that explosive, he has to be in the headlines at times... He had played solidly with Sacramento Kings and Vancouver Grizzlies before continuing abroad... I think his belief was the main reason why it hindered his NBA Career... He had some controversies but nothing tops the one where he didn't stand for the National Anthem... People found it disrespectful and he was being criticized for it yet he firmly stood by his choice of not standing... I truly believe he was a good player that underachieved in a lot of ways... He was good...

PS: D Hamp, you're a Nuggets fan right? I think you know his game more than I do..^^

Pretty much all of these names are familiar. Derrick Anderson is a good one. His knee injury was a huge setback, I think he got hurt again when he was playing for San Antonio and was never the same. The explosiveness was gone and he just wasn't the same player.

Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf was awesome. I agree that the only reason he was out of the league was his beliefs. I remember seeing one game where he had 30 points and 20 assists. He was an unstoppable scorer.

Rodney White was a really nice scorer. I never understood why he didn't stick in the league. It was almost like he could not put everything together.

Someone mentioned Miles Simon. A lot of the guys from that Arizona championship team made the NBA or got drafted, but didn't stick. The guy that I thought would be a lot better was Mike Bibby. I thought he was going to be this championship level point guard. He has had a good career, but nothing that anyone is going to remember years after he retires. He already seems to be on the downside of his career.

Marcusfizer, yeah, I from Denver and live in Tulsa. Rauf was a good player but REALLY inconsistent becaues of Ramadam. You mentioned the 50 point game! I saw the game. I even watched the next one hoping he would score 50 again. He score 2 points. During ramadam, he would be on a liquid diet for about a month. And he would fast, so that really hurt him.

I recall being at a game and he wasn't standing for the nation anthem. I was surprised. The thing is, he had did it all season long and when the media found out, half the season was over. He landed in Sacramento backing up Bobby Hurley. Give me a break. He was out of the league after that, but Shareef Adbul-Rahim got him a gig in Vancouver, it didn't last long.

As for Rodney White, he's a mystery. I stood next to him once in a night club. lol. He had on a blue fur coat. lol!

Dhamp....the greatest basketball mind in the world. Next to Hubie Brown anyway.

I've been watching UCLA basketball for about 15 years, and I honestly think Jerome Moiso was the second best pro prospect after Baron, that I've seen from there. Jerome was 6-11, he could run, jump, dunk, block shots. He had a silky smooth offensive game where he could go inside or out. He was knocking down the college three. He got taken in the lottery after his sophomore year, but he bounced around for 3 years before leaving for over seas. He just seemed to really lack intensity on the court, but he could have been a star.